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National Organization for Women (NOW) | |
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Website | http://www.now.org |
Founded | June 30, 1966, by Aileen Hernandez & Richard Graham |
Headquarters | , Washington, D.C. United States |
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States of America. NOW has 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Since its founding in 1966, NOW's goal has been to take action to bring about equality for all women. NOW works to eliminate discrimination and harassment in the workplace, schools, the justice system, and all other sectors of society; secure abortion, birth control and reproductive rights for all women; end all forms of violence against women; eradicate racism, sexism and homophobia; and promote equality and justice in our society.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 came to Congress, and feminists lobbied hard for the addition of an amendment prohibiting sex discrimination in employment. After much debate, the Act was passed with just such a prohibition in Title VII, added by a congressman who hoped to defeat the Act by including sex. But Title VII was still a shallow protection for women in the workforce.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was formed in 1965 to enforce the Civil Rights Act. Though future NOW founders Aileen Hernandez and Richard Graham fought hard as EEO commissioners to enforce Title VII's prohibition on sex discrimination, they were ultimately outnumbered 3-2, and the EEOC decided in September of 1965 that sex segregation in job advertising was permissible.
A month later, at a conference on Title VII and the EEOC, Dr. Pauli Murray, a law professor at Yale University and a member of the President's Commission on the Status of Women, denounced the EEOC and its stance permitting Help Wanted Male and Help Wanted Female segregated job advertising. Betty Friedan, author of the eye-opening book The Feminine Mystique, immediately contacted Dr. Murray—one of many historic linkups that led to a reemergence of the feminist movement in the U.S.
NOW lists it's top priorities as follows:
Recently NOW has reacted to allegations made against late-night television host David Letterman and stated that the issue is an example of the workplace discrimination and harassment women are still subject to. Terry O'Neill stated that Letterman "is responsible for setting the tone for his entire workplace - and he did that with sex" which placed all employees including female employees "in an awkward, confusing and demoralizing situation"[1].
NOW Vice President Erin Matson recently condemned fashion house Ralph Lauren for firing model Filippa Hamilton for being too fat. Matson stated that apologies are owed to Hamilton, and the attitude shown by Ralph Lauren is "disgusting" and "harmful".[2]